Various meteorological stats indicate Patricia was a leader. Highest temperature for the eye (90degF). Lowest barometric pressure (779 mb) for the eastern Pacific. Matches the fastest forming Cat 5 within 24 hours. I’m just surprised there aren’t some newsworthy events reported of facilities being completely annihilated, i.e. even foundations removed.
Makes me question if the entire affair wasn’t hi tech rumor.
Based on its central pressure that fell to a record recorded low of 879 millibars (25.96 inches of mercury), breaking the previous record of 882 millibars set by Wilma in the Atlantic Basin, and top sustained wind speeds of 200 mph before making landfall, for a time Patricia WAS the “strongest” hurricane in Western hemisphere in modern times, since reliable satellite measurements and air reconnaissance.
And although it weakened rapidly before making landfall, the maximum sustained winds at landfall were estimated at 165 mph, still firmly within the Category 5 range on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
What is also somewhat unusual about this hurricane was that Patricia rapidly organized and intensified as maximum sustained winds with the storm increasing winds by 115 mph in a 24-hour window from 85 mph at 4 a.m. CDT on Oct. 22 to 200 mph at 4 a.m. CDT Oct. 23.
It also de-intensifed just as quickly, fell apart very quickly.
The good news for those in Mexico where the storm made landfall, was 1) that the storm intensified so rapidly and so close to the coast, that it didn’t have the time to build up a considerable storm surge – in hurricanes, more people are killed due to storm surge flooding than by wind, 2) the storm while very intense was also very compact - hurricane force winds extended outward only up to 30 miles from the center at landfall, and 3) it made landfall in a sparsely populated area and continued tracking, now greatly weakened over sparsely populated and mountainous regions of the interior, sparing the more densely populated coastal resort cities of Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta and the inland metropolis of Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city.
The remnants of Patricia however are causing big trouble for Texas and Louisiana where they’ve already been dealing with heavy rain.
http://www.weather.com/forecast/regional/news/patricia-texas-flooding-houston-austin-san-antonio
Force is not the same as power. Area does not equal volume. Temperature does not equal heat content. To say it was the strongest storm on record, and be accurate for damage assessment, the force had to be factored by volume. Basically you cannot assess strength or power without relating it to volume or size of eye. The more apes get involved, the more mistakes are made.